>> right. we don't have a name for that right now. join us again tomorrow at 5:00 and 7:00 eastern. "countdown" with keith olbermann starts right now. which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? the medicare buy-in. as the senate gang of ten moves toward picking this option instead of the public option, the democrat kent conrad finds an objection anyway. $1.5 million in donations and you can find objections any way. our special guest howard dean. and the abortion nonsense. i'll see you your stealth undermining of roe v. wade says senator boxer and raise you one prescription for rush limbaugh pills. >> is it fair to say to a man you're going to have to buy a rider to buy viagra? obama and the economy. job losses taper off. now he wants to spend returned t.a.r.p. for job creation programs and tax breaks for

small businesses. the republicans palling for months for tax breaks for small businesses now says the president had no right to spend t.a.r.p. money for job creation programs and tax breaks for small businesses. afghanistan. is the pentagon full of crap? a week ago the president said troop withdrawals by july 2011, as late as january 2012 and sunday the secretary of defense that was not a deadline. then sunday per the national security adviser was a glide slope. now in kabul. so the secretary of defense says to the president of afghanistan -- >> we will fight by your side until afghan forces are large enough and strong enough to secure the nation on their own. >> unfortunately, hamid karzai then says maybe, maybe that will be in 2014. but he won't be able to pay for it until 2024. the tennessee mayor who believes obama deliberately preempted a charlie brown christmas because he is a muslim now says he was joking.

and fox's answer to climate change. how many americans think it's possible that scientists falsified research? 120%. and another day, another mistress, another chinese animation. so he's taking pictures of his clubs. so? and why tiger woods is too a political figure. all the news and commentary now on "countdown." >> you want to take that last shot because it's in your hand. good evening from new york. the good news tonight, senate democrats close to reaching consensus on a plan to concede the public option in exchange for something that might be even better. as we first reported last night expanding medicare, if not to every american, at least many americans 55 to 64. the bad news, senator conrad, ben nelson and snowe might not support that either. our fifth story in the "countdown," here we go again.

presumably -- or presently, rather, we'll be joined by governor howard dean, who had floated the idea of lowering the eligibility age for medicare during his run for the white house in 2004, echoes a 2000 proposal by al gore and would-be vp joe lieberman. but we begin with the latest details. democratic negotiators in the senate hammering out a deal to trade away the public option for several possible concessions the most appealing of which to be that plan to allow the otherwise uninsured to buy into medicare at age 55. but conservative democrats who are not among the negotiators as well as potentially republican swing vote snowe of maine already speaking and freaking out. senator snowe telling reporters a medicare expansion is something she is not inclined to support adding she's spoken to majority leader reid, quote -- i told him i have concerns. the medicare buy-in is problematic. obviously since they opposed medicare cuts, expanding medicare is really a problem for their campaign of political martyrdom on the subject. democrat kent conrad, the first democrat to complain about the

proposed plan saying using medicare rates of reimbursement would hurt hospitals in his home state of north dakota -- basically this is what he always says. quoting this time -- what's that going to do to rates? what's that going to do to medicare solvency? we don't have answers to those questions. senator rockefeller having heard that one enough, i'm really very tired about hearing about that from him. the senator from small state west virginia responding. it is always about north dakota. it is never about any other part of the country. we're trying to do the best thing for the country as a whole. "the washington post" attempting to answer the question of what whether using medicare rates really does discriminate against rural hospitals as senator conrad always claims. mr. klein's conclusion. no, no, it does not. he found his evidence on page 57 of medpac's 2009 report to congress which revealed relative to urban hospitals, medicare's payments actually covered a slightly higher percentage of costs for the rural hospitals. to repeat, rural hospitals are

not being paid less in medicare payments than are urban hospitals. they might not get any more money out of medicare buy-in and they might be struggling for other reasons, but as far as ezra kline could tell from all available data, rural hospitals are not disadvantaged in comparison to their urban counterparts. senator lieberman, open to the medicare buy-in. swaying from something he campaigned in 2000 would be apparently too much for him. still no word on how senator ben nelson feels about expanding medicare but his anti-abortion amendment was effectively killed earlier tonight when the senate voted 54-45 to table the measure permanently. in the wake of the defeat senator nelson telling reporters he's less likely to support the final bill as a result. in getting nelson's anti-abortion amendment killed, senator boxer argued there's a double standard in play. if health care reform would pay for viagra, it should cover abortion procedures, too. >> there's nothing in this amendment that says if a man

some day wants to buy viagra, for example, that his pharmaceutical coverage cannot cover it, then he has to buy a rider. i wouldn't support that. and they shouldn't support going after a woman using her own private funds for her reproductive health care. is it fair to say to a man, you're going to have to buy a rider to buy viagra and this will be public information, could be accessed? no. i don't support that. i support a man's privacy, just as i support a woman's privacy. >> as promised, time now to call in governor howard dean, former chairman of the democratic national committee, 2004 candidate for the democratic presidential nomination. thank you for your time tonight, governor. >> thanks, keith, for having me on. >> medicare buy-in for many americans 55 to 64, is it an acceptable consolation prize for giving away a true

definitionally true anyway public option? >> it's a very good idea. there are a couple of things good about it. first of all, it does give people real choice over 5. doesn't give them much choice under 55. second of all, it takes off the table some of the real problems with the public option. one of the problems that nobody was talking about is setting up a new separate bureaucracy inside an agency that hasn't run an insurance company before. now this is where it belongs. i mean, many people argue of course we ought to have the availability of medicare for everybody. because this agency has -- does a billion claims a year. they know what they're doing. one of the great things about this proposal in the senate is that you can start enrolling people in june of 2010. the president will sign it in january. you start enrolling people right away. that is a big deal. so this is a tough call. but i think using medicare is such a big step forward that i'm glad that they're moving. we got to get this bill passed. i was smiling when i got on the

show. i can't imagine what it's like to have harry reid's job. i mean, my lord! these are just more grandstanding than i've ever seen. my little state and my amendment didn't pass, so i might not support the bill. this is a historic moment in america. and i think jay rockefeller is absolutely right. of course these folks are all supposed to support home constituents but do what's right for america. we need a little of that in the senate right now. >> on this topic it almost seems like senator conrad has the pull strins and only has the one prerecorded answer for everything. back to buying in for medicare. if it makes so much sense, it could be argue it's not likely to happen. is it likely to happen? >> i hope it is. i'm keeping close tabs because i don't want to be hung out to dry on this one and we've had that happen before. so far, it looks pretty good. people -- and at the end of the day, i don't believe kent conrad is going to kill health insurance for all these americans because of this concern. i actually don't believe ben nelson is going to do it either.

honestly, it doesn't matter what olympia snowe does because she's not going to vote with us anyway. so i'm optimistic. i'm always optimistic. some days you get optimistic. this is one of them. some days you don't get so optimistic. we have to see the fine print in this thing, but to be able to enroll people especially over 55 that are the unemployed people who cannot find health insurance right now and will never find it with a private insurance company, that's a very big step forward. >> as we have been speaking, the associated press has reported that the democrats have a tentative deal to drop the public option. they don't go into the rest of the detail but we assume that's in exchange for the medicare buy-in because there was nothing else to that state in terms of the group of ten and what they were discussing. to senator conrad's point, any health care plan tied to medicare reimbursement rates would be bad for small rural hospitals. you ran a small state -- >> that's not exactly true. >> you ran this. is there -- if the numbers don't

back up what senator conrad keeps saying, why does he keep saying it? >> they could actually both be right. it is probably true that rural hospitals in general don't suffer more -- actually, urban hospitals get paid more but of course their costs are higher. there are some states that do worse than others. interesting iowa historically has done the worst. you can fix that. basically, that's what mary landrieu did in exchange for her vote to allow the bill to come to the floor. maybe ken is angling for extra dough for north dakota. you can't blame him for that. that's fine. but at the end of the day let's not screw around with the bill any more, folks. we've had enough grandstanding and theatrics. let's get the bill passed and do what's right for america. >> to that point, this latest chatter about ping-ponging, that the final bill might possibly be the senate bill by bypassing the usual conference house/senator conference committee. is that a good thing or a bad thing? >> depends. one of the things mentioned last week on your show and i think on

actually a lot of the msnbc shows. i know rachel's show. was bernie sanders talking about if you can't get a public option, you ought to expand the public programs. there was a lot of discussion which i think has stopped now unfortunately in the senate about expanding medicaid. the reason for the dropping of the discussion was a very smart one. states can't handle their share of it. the feds can step up and do it. the reason we have universal health insurance in vermont for everybody under 18 is because we used medicaid to get it. we had to use reimbursement rates. it works really well. we did it for 15 years. we've had it for 15 years. if you ping-pong this bill back and forth you can add stuff that makes sense and revisit the medicaid issue without harming the states. makes a lot of sense. conference committees are very complicated. if they can get away with the ping-ponging thing and improve the bill, i think they should do it. >> governor howard dean, great. thanks as always, on this issue in particular. >> if the senate bill is indeed the version of the bill that will reach president obama's desk and this breaking news suggests that's the case, at least this much would be guaranteed.

no stupak and/or ben nelson amendment would be in it. let's turn to eugene robinson, associate editor, pulitzer prize winning columnist of "the washington post." good evening, gene. >> good evening, keith. >> senator ben nelson's anti-abortion amendment killed earlier tonight, permanently tabled. but my hypothetical aside. stupak still looms in the house. is senator boxer correct? is it hard to imagine the same kind of moral imperative, the culture war, if it somehow targeted men's health choices instead of women's? >> it is hard to imagine that if men were the parties involved, that it would work out exactly like this. but the key word there, i think, is choices. and those who are pro choice see reproductive rights as a woman's choice, a woman's fundamental right to choose. and those who are anti-abortion don't see it as a choice or at least as a choice that is properly -- that women are properly allowed to make.

so that's -- we never really reached even a cease-fire on abortion. we just -- hostilities ended and there's kind of a line of control roe v. wade. but the fight was never really resolved. and who knows when it will be? >> even setting it aside as they tried to do i think for their credit for much of the debate, just the issue of women's health insurance relative to men's health insurance, which has not come up a lot, even if it doesn't include maternity care, women's prices, costs are 30% more. if it were the other way around, would the -- how would -- we'd be celebrating, what, the 100th anniversary of congress making sure that that disparity had been eliminated? >> i'm quite confident that we would. we would have insurance executives being subpoenaed and called before committees and raked over the coals. and that -- you know, that wouldn't -- that wouldn't happen. i've always thought that

disparity is incredible. how can you have a system that perpetuates it? but that's what we've had. we've had a system that perpetuates a lot of crazy stuff. >> how is this part of it, though, not a civil rights issue? >> well, i think it is a civil rights issue. and from my perspective, it certainly is. and i think, you know, the women's movement certainly has been a civil rights movement. i believe that abortion rights were very much a part of that movement. and to take -- i really understand senator boxer and others who look at what's happening and say, hold it. this is a step back from rights that were hard won. and it's -- i have a -- i understand why that's very difficult for them to swallow. it's one thing to say you progressives just go along with it. it's more than a bitter pill.

it's a surrender of territory that was won long ago. >> and it's a bitter pill that costs 30% more for women. the last point, this breaking news about the ap report that there is a tentative deal. one assumes it's a tentative deal to drop the public option in exchange for going ahead with a limited buy-in to medicare 55/65. chime in. is it a good trade? is it the best trade under the circumstances? >> it strikes me as a pretty good trade. i always thought that in the end we'd either get something called a public option that really wasn't a public option at all or something that was a public option but we didn't call a public option. i think it's -- this is the -- this is the second alternative. this actually, in some ways, better than the attenuated watered-down public option that's been on the table that's one in name only. medicare is a real program. it really works.

and to expand that and to open it to those 55 and above, i think would make a real difference. >> obviously, there will be more to that associated press report and we'll follow it throughout the hour in the interim. eugene robinson "washington post" and msnbc. always a pleasure. thank you. >> good to be here, keith. one other note here, tonight we're on the eve of another free health care clinic funded by our "countdown" viewers. it begins tomorrow in kansas city. logon to freeclinics.us to schedule an appointment if you need one. in addition to all the services, we'll have dental services, vaccination for h1n1. so far more than 1700 patients have registered. more than 2,000 medical and nonmedical volunteers are help. this all made possible by you, our viewers, and your contributions which have now totalled $1.9 million. so the president may get health care reform. what about the other two biggest items of his first 11 months? the numbers of newly unemployed last month dropped to about 2% of what the figure had been in

january. and so much of the t.a.r.p. money has been repaid they can use it the way the republicans had demanded. tax cuts for small businesses and job creation plans. but then there's afghanistan. a week ago tonight the president announced a deadline for beginning an exit and every military leader since has insisted there's no deadline. just a glide slope. we discuss whether it is the country now on the glide slope. and whether the pentagon just put us on it. there's a hospital where technology has a healing touch. there's a factory giving old industries new life. and there's a train that got a whole city moving again. somewhere in america, the toughest questions are answered every day. because somewhere in america, 69,000 people spend every day answering them. siemens. answers. let the all-new campbellskitchen.com help bring your family to the table this holiday. from timeless favorites like campbell's green bean casserole

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we will never see an average american with a t-shirt reading "i heart t.a.r.p." but republican was the equivalent of tossing $70 billion into a hole. nobody likes 10% unemployment, but back in january, nearly 600,000 jobs were lost. last month 11,000. is it time to say the president's policies have improved the economy? president obama today taking on the subject of jobs and the economy for the fifth time in the past week in a speech to the brookings institute. he proposed further tax incentives for small businesses to go and hire people, more investment in infrastructure projects and new incentives for americans to weatherize their homes.

that has already earned the name cash for caulkers. while the president seized upon the positive side of the economy, he acknowledged the pain is still wide and deep. >> we are not yet creating jobs at a pace to help all those families who have been swept up in the flood. there are more than 7 million fewer americans with jobs today than when this recession began. that's a staggering figure. and one that reflects not only the depths of the hole from which we must ascend but also a continuing human tragedy. >> the president even suggested some of these extra initiatives could be paid for with some of the leftover t.a.r.p. money. so since they've insisted that the real roots to recovery are through job creation programs and tax breaks for small businesses, republicans must like this new idea of job creation programs and tax breaks for small businesses. nope. here's the squealing. >> i was there. all right? i know all about t.a.r.p.

first, it was never intended that all of this money would ever have to be spent. but any money that wasn't spent was to go to the deficit. and the idea of taking this money and spending it is repulsive. >> as for that detested t.a.r.p. program, the congressional oversight panel that monitors it will release a report tomorrow. some experts now believe the program will get back more than $500 billion out of its $700 billion funding. far better than originally predicted. and the portion of t.a.r.p. that went directly to the banks may actually turn out to have broken even. let's turn now to the chair of that congressional oversight panel, harvard university law professor elizabeth warren. thanks for your time tonight. >> it's good to be here. >> the president said today -- let me quote it correctly. as galling as the assistance to banks might have been it helped prevent a collapse of the entire financial system. this is a theme of his, but there are two obvious questions raised by the statement. the first one being, is that true? >> yes. >> then the second obvious question is, how can you prove the negative?

can it be demonstrated that collapse was prevented? >> well, you can never prove the counter-factual but what we can do is look at every trend line we had. this economy was racing toward a cliff and about to pitch over. and the combination of t.a.r.p. and the work from the fed and the fdic and the stimulus together gave enough reassurance to the market to pull us back from the edge. if nothing else, the u.s. government held up the equivalent of a giant sign that said we are not going to let this financial system collapse, and we will do whatever it takes to stabilize the system. that calmed everybody down. so in that sense, it worked. >> has it missed the mark in any great measure? i mean, with an eye towards common-sense evaluation versus numbers crunching, has it come anywhere close to affecting average americans enough? obviously, the start of this was

the issue of credit flexibility and looseness. has it helped? has it demonstrably helped average americans getting an average loan? >> that's where the real problem is. that is that it did the first part. it stopped us from the crash. but this was not a system for which the money was supposed to just go to the big financial institutions so they could kind of stay afloat. it was really put into these big financial institutions so that it would help the entire economy, so that it would help us deal with foreclosures, so it would restart credit, so that small businesses wouldn't collapse and, in turn, so employment could stay up and people would be working at those small businesses, to clean up the balance sheets for the banks. those things, they just haven't happened. >> obviously, nobody is jumping for joy if the market is still 10% unemployment, even if that figure is down from the preceding month. but is there something dynamic about stepping back and looking at all of this and saying, yes, the economy is improving and

this administration's policies have, in fact, contributed to that? >> i think that's the right way to look at it. look, we've been at t.a.r.p. now for over a year, just a little over a year. and this is the moment, with the report we're doing right now, to say let's take a deep breath. let's back up and say the first part was accomplished. the t.a.r.p. is part of what helped us avoid a depression. but it's time to reassess the rest of those programs. we don't want to be in a situation where we get really good at shoveling hundreds of billions of dollars into large banks. that we can do that on a second's notice. and not be able to help stabilize the economy for the american family. we need to rethink some of these programs. and we need to put some real energy and some real dynamic thought between how -- into how it is that we're going to use this money to get it into the hand of community banks, to get

it into the hands of small businesses, to get ahead of this mortgage foreclosure crisis. that's where we've got to turn our attention. >> professor, does the president, in terms of doing something like that, does he need congressional approval to take some of that t.a.r.p. money and use it on new initiatives or is that within the original purview of the idea? >> okay. i'm going to be a lawyer on you for a minute here. and the answer is to the extent that this is -- that what he wants to do is stimulate jobs, for example, through the shot of working with the financial institutions and the financial system. for example, put more money into small business loans, which in turn will stimulate hiring, then the answer is, he absolutely can do it. t.a.r.p. already has the authorizations in place. all you've got to do is design a program that does it. but for anything else, it's simply a case of if he wants to go do some kind of stimulus program, not spending the money in t.a.r.p. means there's more

money available but it's up to congress to decide how that money gets spent. >> elizabeth warren, chair of the congressional oversight panel, also of harvard university and for a minute there a lawyer. great. thanks for joining us tonight. >> thank you. and the second half of the associated press report has just come in on our breaking news of the hour, that the democratic group, at least the ten senators working on the revision to the health care bill have indeed agreed to drop the public option but the associated press reports, according to its sources, that federal medicare health care programs for the elderly would be opened up to uninsured americans, as reported, beginning at age 55. there's no measure on how many people that would affect, but as we have been reporting, too, for the last two days, that was the idea on the table. and according to the ap, that is in the final version. we'll continue to follow the developments from health care and the rest of the day's news. can your body wash nourish this deeply?

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the tiger woods story re-detonates. those other ten women, some of them appear to have been employees. greens fees. first to a burger king near san clemente, california, where a woman called 911 to complain about her western barbecue burger. yes, her order was messed up. she spent a full 2 1/2 minutes discussing the crisis with the emergency dispatcher saying in fact everything except "let's play oddball." >> ha! >> ma'am, we're not going to go down there and enforce your western bacon burger. >> what am i supposed to do?

>> this is between you and the manager. we're not going to go and enforce how to make a hamburger. that's not a criminal issue. this is not a criminal issue. we can't go out there and make them make you a cheeseburger the way you want it. >> well, that is -- that -- you're supposed to be here to protect me. >> what are we protecting you from? a wrong cheeseburger? >> no. >> is this a harmful cheeseburger or something? i don't understand what you want us to do. >> well, just come down here. i'm not leaving. >> no, ma'am, i'm not sending the deputies down there over a cheeseburger. >> it's a socialist cheeseburger! afghanistan, my point last week was the president might believe he's establishing a deadline to begin withdrawal. the president might say he's establishing a deadline to begin withdrawal. and the pentagon will never hear a word of it, which is perhaps why the secretary of defense says it's not a deadline and why the president of afghanistan today says five years, if we hurry. oh, here we go again. we're goinp to china!

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a deadline in afghanistan but his top military commander doesn't view it as a deadline. his national security advisor calls it a glide slope. his defense secretary says the troops will be there as long as it takes. and the president of the country where the troops are being sent just mentioned 2014. our third story in the "countdown," the president commits to a strategy while the pentagon seems to move the goalposts. a week after president obama laid out the plans to keep the troops in afghanistan through july 2011, at least the withdrawal would begin at that point, defense secretary gates made a surprise visit to that country at a joint news conference with the afghan president hamid karzai in kabul, mr. gates asserting there is realism on our part there will be some time before afghan forces can stand on their own. >> our troops are here only as long as it takes to help you defeat your enemies. we will fight by your side until afghan forces are large enough and strong enough to secure the nation on their own. >> as for president karzai's commitment to his country's security, he warns afghanistan

would not be able to pay for its own defense for 15 to 20 more years, later amending that statement to at least five years providing there is maximum effort. this coming on the heels of a weekend of pentagon message massage. mr. gates maintaining that come july 2011, 6 or 6,000 troops could be leaving afghanistan based on conditions on the ground. national security adviser jim jones pointed out strategic interests should not be measured in finite terms. meanwhile, on capitol hill, general stanley mcchrystal and u.s. ambassador to afghanistan karl eikenberry testifying to the house and armed senate services committees, eikenberry saying the timeline is a very good forcing function to get the afghans to stand up. as for general mcchrystal he says he'll know in the next 18 months whether the president's deadline will be met. >> i don't view july 2011 as a deadline. i view that as a point at which time the president has directed we will begin to reduce combat forces. but we will decide the pace and scope of that based upon conditions at that time.

>> joining me now the founder and publisher of "daily kos," author of "taking on the system, rules for radical change in a digital era," marcos. i know you're not a doctor but i'm getting a sinking feeling here that the president said one thing and the pentagon has spent a week since saying, pay no attention to him. >> i'm not getting that feeling, to be honest, keith. the president made clear 2011 was the start of a drawdown based on this surge. it's a limited surge. that's what he's claiming. where i think there's dissonance, obama implied it would be a quick withdrawal after 2011. yeah, he said it would be based on conditions on the ground, but the implication was that it was going to be quick, while the pentagon wants to say maybe not so quick. it will be a little longer. i don't think they're necessarily undermining what obama said but i think there is a little interpretation gap here. >> what happens in domestic politics given the strength of the president's statement and

seemingly the strengths of his stats if the troop withdrawals are delayed past the end of the window barring the largest and most easily interpreted of events on the ground? what happens politically here? >> well, i think obama bought himself some time. i think the polls are very clear that people are willing to give him a chance to sort of improve the situation on the ground. but the implication or the assumption has always been that once they've had a chance to sort of surge and pacify things on the ground, that we're going to get our boys and girls home safe and sound to their families. and if that doesn't happen relatively quickly after that initial pullout date, i think people are going to start getting restless and it will have implications for his re-election campaign. >> i'm going to switch to the breaking news if you don't mind because i know you know this topic as well as afghanistan. that one will be discussed endlessly. just at this hour, harry reid has gotten before the microphones in washington, confirmed the associated press and the political reports there is a deal among the democrats only saying more choice for

consumers, more competition for insurance companies. the ap says the public option is out, the medicare buy-in is in and also possibly something along the lines of that private insurance, some vague private insurance supplied by the same people who brought you lawmaker care and politico reported that the thing is being sent over to the congressional budget office for scoring. give me your initial reaction to this. >> i think i would have to see the details to have a full understanding of what's going on but i've been under the assumption for a while that the senate is a non-functioning governmental body. it cannot do its job, which is to reform and improve the lives of americans. it is broken. it's completely bought and paid for by the insurance companies and i think it's indicative that we just found out today that the insurance companies are claiming victory on this battle, supposedly not over. they're already claiming victory because they'll have the mandate forcing people to buy their crappy products with few restrictions on their ability to do the sort of unethical business practices that have

created this problem in the first place. >> any hope in that medicare buy-in? >> well, the initial reports are that it's, what, 55 years old? >> 55. >> yeah, 55. doesn't do anybody under 55 any good. in fact, what it seems to do is takes away some of the most expensive potential customers for the insurance companies, the older. and gives them basically -- fobs them off to the government. we need something that applies to all americans not just the elderly. >> great. thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you very much. the admittedly minor political relevance of tiger woods plus a cascade of new details, reports many of the women were escorting and new chinese videos. the mayor posted that obama was a muslim and deliberately went on tfb so he could preempt a charlie brown christmas. now the town posted the mayor does not speak for the town. when rachel joins us, governor rendell on the economic good news and the curious truth however much of it there really is, the republicans chose not to help.

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for the first time in the history of worst persons the same guy is the winner two nights in a row for the same thing. the tennessee mayor who insisted obama deliberately preempted "a charlie brown christmas" because he's secretly a muslim. the latest revelations about tiger woods. again, thanks to chinese journalism technology.

the political relevance of tiger woods along with a new theory that most of the women involved are actually professionals. more chinese videos and the sight of somebody else being removed from the area of his mansion by paramedics. crying out loud, keep an ambulance parked out front. the bronze to brett stevens of "the wall street journal" trying to extend the rights believe it has found the holy grail in these e-mails stolen from climate change experts. it's holy something. employs the classic ploy i'm not saying what i'm obviously saying but those that acknowledge climate change have, quote -- what i would call the totalitarian impulse. this is not to say that global warming true believers are closet stalinists, but their intellectual methods are instructively similar. for the anti-semite, the problems of the world can invariably be ascribed to the jews. for the communist, he writes, to the capitalists and global warming has become the fill in the black explanation for whatever happens to be the problem. i'm not saying, mr. stephens is an intellectual midget who prostituted himself out to rupert murdoch, whose myopia could lead to the destruction of the atmosphere.

i'm just saying -- the runner-up, the fine folks at cluster fox and friends again. a poll from the right wing manipulated rasmussen report wasn't good enough for them. did scientists falsify research to support their own theories on global warming? 59%, somewhat likely. 35% very likely. 26% not very likely. that would be 120% who believe it is possible. 94% of whom believe it's somewhat or very likely. so this poll question follow-up. does fox falsify the news to support their own theories on everything? 100% of respondents were unable to stop laughing long enough to answer. but our winner and all-time first the same guy as last night for the same thing, mayor russell weisman of arlington, tennessee, the man who posted on facebook that president obama is a muslim and that's why he spoke to the nation last tuesday at 8:00 eastern, so he could preempt the showing of "a charlie brown christmas" for the 45th year in the row.

he's it again because i wasn't finished. when the memphis newspaper called him for comment, mayor weisman said they were making a mountain out of a molehill. the molehill, sir, is between your ears. they showed "a charlie brown christmas" tonight anyway and are showing it again next tuesday. if you were a real american, sir, you would have seen it so many times already you would be able to recite it from memory. his city disavowed the mayor. posted on its official website -- the mayor's comments were not made on a town computer or using town computer services. the town recognizes barack obama as the president of the united states and in accordance with the constitution recognizes both the freedom of religion and the freedom of speech. we welcome all law abiding people to our town. we do not discriminate. we provide essential services to all town of arlington people without regard to religion, race, color, age, gender, sex or national origin. ample parking day and night, people shouting howdy neighbor. mayor weisman sent a statement to local media -- regarding all the reports about my recent facebook remarks, i

want the take this opportunity to say how much i regret that i offended anyone with my poor attempt at tongue-in-cheek humor amongst friends. while my xhens were certainly blown way out of proportion, i do recognize that i allowed things to go too far. i trust that we have all experienced things getting out of hand from time to time and i do regret it. i take some measure of comfort in knowing that the people who know me best understand that i am a progressive and tolerant person who believes wholeheartedly in the rights and equality of all people. ample parking day and night. people shouting howdy neighbor. so it was a joke? it was a progressive joke? the president is a muslim, he preempted "a charlie brown christmas "county because it's got bible readings in it. his supporters should all move to a muslim country. a joke. a joke, mayor, would be, you know how stupid the people who think obama is a muslim really are? they're so stupid that they think he went on tv at 8:00 so he could preempt "a charlie brown christmas" because it's got bible readings in it. there are lots of stupid sons of

bitches in this country but those people would have to be so stupid that they'd be serving as the local chairman of the national stupid sons of bitches club! that, mayor weisman is a joke. mayor russell, yes, the name is meant ironically, weissman of arlington, tennessee, today days' worst person in the world. , in 2009, clients rated wells fargo advisors the #1 u.s. investment firm for doing what's best for them. with advisors nearby and nationwide, we're with you when you need advice and planning expertise to meet today's challenges. wells fargo advisors. together we'll go far. ♪ the moisturizer in other body washes sits on top of skin. only new dove has nutriummoisture... which can nourish deep down. new dove body wash with nutriummoisture. superior natural nourishment for your skin.

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to briefly recap the breaking news of the hour, majority leader harry reid confirming the democrats have a final agreement on a health care reform bill. he will not detail it. the associated press reporting it drops the public option for a limited buy-in for medicare at age 55. governor ed rendell of pennsylvania, senator bernie sanders of vermont join rachel maddow for a reaction six minutes hence. so a woman comes up to me on the street and says, hey, how come you're doing segments on tiger woods?

what has it to do with politics? what do you have against him? just because he serial cheats on his wife. just because he swears at his fans for making noise while he tries to hit a ball that's not moving and nobody is trying to stop him. just because he's living a double life? i said, yes, madam, all that's true. but i said in my number one story tonight, my we've with him is that he's been a holier than thou fraud for a decade. in 2000 the only two unions i belong to s.a.g. and aftra went out on strike against the makers of tv commercials and quietly the union executive said to people like tiger woods and lance armstrong, we know you're not really commercial actors so while we would love it if you would honor our strike, we'll understand if you won't. but on may 2nd, 2000, through his agent, woods said, there is a strike going on and we're abiding by it. and he very loudly canceled the filming of a nike commercial near his home in orlando and expressed support

for the s.a.g. and afta workers whose average annual income is about $6,000. then he shot a commercial in canada. he said he didn't consider it strike breaking because it was in canada. i told this woman, yeah, that's why i have no sympathy for tiger woods and why he has something to do with politics even if this sad store of him just being a common weasel doesn't. she said, oh, i see. then she said, oh, i had an affair with him, too. all right, i made the last quote up. still, it seems like your odds of having some woman coming up to you on the street and telling you she slept with tiger woods rose again today. another woman, british pornographic actress, and if there are more women, there are more computer generated videos from the evil geniuses in apple daily in hong kong. time for edited highlights and translation including his alleged photography by mr. woods and his mother-in-law being rushed to the hospital complaining of stomach pains of this, like we all didn't have stomach pains because of this. the sixth apple daily animated

opus translate on youtube as fear level three tigers. so you know this one will be good. tonight we meet jamie jungers who allegedly partied with tiger woods in las vegas and then bragged about it to her fiance. woman meets tiger woods at bellagio dance-atorium. they convene back to room of woods for, you know. woman's fiance playing tiger woods golf. wife says, hey, i know that guy. see? he's on my phone. fiance says, i shall brag to my work friends. hey, work friends, you'll never guess who my future wife has platonic relationship with, tiger woods? then there's the story of cori rist who took home the tiger's club. that's not a mistranslated chinese euphemism. literally took home one of his golf clubs for golf shots. nothing but golf shots. woman enters hotel suite which connects with room of tiger woods. woods and lady sit on bed. tiger woods shows woman his

driver. woman never removes hat. takes club home, presents to 7-year-old son. you have no idea, junior. you have no idea, junior. that brings us to today's events. reporting by deadspin.com these are not all affairs woods has had. that's these are professional women provided for him by the likes of rachel uchitel, which might explain the hospital visit for the mother-in-law of tiger woods, barbro holmgren is the mayor in sweden. barbro, the martyred race horse? she apparently got so sick to her stomach she had to be rushed to the hospital at 2:30 this morning. take a freaking number, lady. maybe she found out of about the 11th woman, the second porn star to be linked to the son-in-law. veronica daniels, joslyn james. deadspin.com spilled the beans on her as the mother-in-law has been released and received no special treatment while in their care although the same was not true when her famous son-in-law checked into the same hospital

nearly two weeks ago. night of crash, tiger didn't feel so hot. this is pill of vicodin. ow, ouch, i fell on my keys. tiger woods and wife check into hospital. woods uses clever name to hide celebrity, william smith. police wonder, hmm, now there are two pills of vicodin? seriously, you want to remain anonymous, check into the hospital as will smith. another tip if you want to remain anonymous, do not take pictures of yourself that might wind up in "playgirl." an anonymous woman has naughty photo. look at naughty photo. go into lady's ponytail. tiger woods takes picture. that looks good. we can sell this. there is much rejoicing. dude, levi johnston is going to be so upstaged. allegedly. and now to again try to follow that with her special guest, governor ed rendell and senator bernie sanders on the breaking news on a senate health reform update and deal. ladies and gentlemen, here is